What is a Unix timestamp
The Unix timestamp (or "Unix time") is the number of seconds elapsed since January 1st, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC (the "Unix epoch"). It's widely used in databases, APIs and logs since it's a simple numeric format with no timezone ambiguity.
Seconds or milliseconds?
Some systems (like JavaScript) use milliseconds instead of seconds. This tool auto-detects: values with more than 11 digits are treated as milliseconds.
Frequently asked questions
Why use a timestamp instead of a regular date?
Because it's a simple number, easy to store, compare and sort, without depending on timezone or date format.
Is the shown time UTC or my local time?
The "to date" conversion shows both your browser's local time and the UTC time (ISO 8601), to avoid confusion.